


Those Stupid Corner Kicks

by orphan_account



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 06:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6041502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moe is upset about her corner kicks in the Mexico game. Tobin comforts her with help from Mama Cheney.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Stupid Corner Kicks

Moe crashed onto her bed, her body exhausted and her spirit deflated. Mexico should have been an easy win, and while they did end up winning the game [thanks ref], no one had played as well as they should have. From her face-down position on the bed, Moe kicked off her shoes, rolling her eyes when she heard one of them rebound off the corner of the room. Stupid corners. Moe groaned in frustration. Corners had not been her friend lately.

Tobin walked in to the bedroom from the bathroom after having taken a long shower. She didn't like showering in the locker room unless she had to. The beating of the water on her back needed to happen for at least 20 minutes for it to be worth it for her. "Hey." She laid down on her bed and looked over at her younger roommate. "Taking set pieces isn't as fun as it looked when Cheney and Pinoe did it, is it?"

Shaking her head, Morgan grumbled a "Nope", popping the 'p' on it. The young midfielder turned over so she was facing the ceiling again and sighed loudly. "I just... I keep overshooting it. Or under shooting it. Or something. I don't even know. So many of our goals come from set pieces, I'm making us lose all of those opportunities. Cheney would be pissed at me."

Moe reached behind her to grab a pillow, and covered her face with it. "Good thing I didn't take her number. I would have ruined her legacy."

Tobin got off of her bed and laid down next to Moe on hers. She rubbed her arm the way Cheney used to do to her and Amy after a bad game. "You know that isn't true. Cheney would have been proud if you took her number. I would be proud if you took mine in 57 years when I retire." Tobin hoped a joke might crack Moe's haze of dislike at her kicks. 

"And I'm not much better at them." She added while her cheek flushed pink. "I'm really sort of horrible at them."

Moe smiled weakly, and let the pillow fall away from her face. "You're never gonna give soccer up are you, huh?" 

The smile faded as the younger girl shuffled closer to her roommate and got serious again. "You're not that bad at them. You're better than I am anyway." Moe felt the beginnings of tears prick her eyes and closed them before Tobin saw. "I miss her so much."

Tobin wrapped her arms around Moe's waist and held her friend closer. "I do too." She whispered in a small voice. "She and Amy and I have always been together. At least two of us on the team. And now it's just me." She knew she was meant to help Moe but in this moment all she knew was they missed their friend. "Maybe we should call her, say hi?"

Moe opened her mouth to reply, and closed it again immediately after. She could feel the sadness radiating from Tobin, and knew both of them would benefit from talking to Mama Cheney. But something was holding her back. "What if she watched the game and she saw how bad my corner kicks are?"

"Then who is better to help us than her?" Tobin asked. "Besides praying or reading our bible." She added, knowing both would be doing that later as well. "Maybe she has a suggestion for us or something? She is my best friend and your mentor. She's not going to hate us for what we do on the field."

"I hope so." Moe sat up, and pushed herself backwards on the bed until she was leaning against the headrest. "At least she'll tell us what we're doing wrong." 

Moe reached for her phone, unlocked it, and sat staring at it for a while, unable to place the call.

Tobin pulled the phone out of Moe's hand and hit the button to call Cheney. "It's ok. She's going to make things better. She always does." She muttered as she hit the button for the speaker and laid her head on Moe's pillow. "And if she somehow can't she will try so hard that it works anyway."

Moe nodded, more to herself than to Tobin. "She's the best." 

The girls sat in silence as the outgoing call rang. Moe steadied a shaking hand by placing it on Tobin's shoulder, as the older girl's head rested by her leg. The call finally connected, and Moe heard the voice she had been missing for months.

Lauren was sitting in her living room with a good book while Jrue was away for the evening with his team. She pulled her phone out when it vibrated and smiled when she saw the name. "Hey Morgan!" Her tone was a happy one getting to talk to her little protégé.

Morgan smiled softly at Cheney's tone. She tried to say hi, but the words got stuck in her throat. Moe had been working so hard to improve at soccer ever since getting cut from the Olympic Development Program. The feeling of failure she had felt then paled in comparison to what she was feeling now. With set pieces being a crucial part of the team's offense strategies, Morgan knew she was failing them. And worse, failing her mentor, who had always excelled at corner kicks.

"Morgan?" Cheney asked again, trying to tell if Moe butt dialed her or not. "Moe?" She asked the younger woman's nickname. "Hello?" She asked as she moved her thumb to end the call.

Tobin looked up at Moe, and saw the tears forming in the younger girl's eyes. Sitting up so she could be closer to Morgan, Tobin answered for her, "Hey Chen. It's Tobs." 

The older midfielder slung an arm over Moe's shoulders, pulling her roommate in. Moe let her head drop onto Tobin's shoulder, and bit her lip as the tears started falling.

Tobin rubbed Moe's back, just giving her a moment. "Moe had a rough game today and wanted to talk to her mentor. And I needed my buddy."

Cheney nodded as she understood what was going on when she heard tiny sniffles. "Hey Moe. It's ok. Chendawg is here." She tossed out one of her funnier nicknames to try to brighten up Moe for the moment. "What's got you down, sweetheart?" She asked in a soothing voice.

Moe wrapped one arm around Tobin, in an awkward attempt at a hug, thankful for Tobin having stepped in when Moe couldn't speak. 

"My stupid corner kicks." Moe mumbled her reply into Tobin's shoulder, a small giggle forming when she heard how ridiculous her answer sounded. Before she even realized what was happening, Moe had started crying the kinds of sobs that wrack your whole body painfully. "I suck."

Cheney was unable to reach out for Moe the way she wanted and hoped Tobin would be there for Moe when she couldn't be. "Moe you don't suck." The tone of Moe's voice made her lean forward like she was sitting across from the young midfielder. She shifted on her couch even if Moe couldn't see her. "It took me years to perfect my kick and it still wasn't always perfect."

Hearing the kindness in Cheney's voice only made Morgan break down more. The younger midfielder clung onto Tobin as she cried. She had played her heart out and left everything on the field, and yet she couldn't help but feel like something was missing.

Morgan forced herself to speak through her tears, trying to explain to her mentor what was going through her head. "I'm a disappointment. To the team and to you. What if I don't make the Rio roster?"

The words were muffled by the tears and by Tobin's shoulder, Moe wasn't sure how much Cheney understood of what she had just said.

Cheney tried to understand what Morgan was saying but her muffled voice made it harder. She took a breathe once she did understand the young friend's fear and prepared herself. "Morgan you are one of the best midfielders the United States has produced. You have everything in your tool box to be great. Greater than I was by a mile. So set pieces aren't your thing. So? They aren't Carli's. They aren't Sam's. They aren't Steph's. Does that make them bad players? No. It means they are great at other things. Like you. You are great at so many things Morgan."

Tobin rubbed Moe's back of Cheney talked up Moe and tried to make her feel better.

Moe hugged Tobin tighter to her, pretending it was Cheney herself. "Thanks Cheney. I needed that." Morgan wiped her tears furiously, ashamed that she had been crying. "Can you come back and teach us to take corner kicks please? We miss you."

"How about when you and Tobin have a break you fly down and I'll have Amy down too and we can have a girl's weekend? Amy is pregnant so she can be out DD. I know how big of drinkers you two are." She teased her two friends knowing one mixed drink put moe on her ass and Tobin wasn't much better. "And we can go out back and I'll teach you everything I can, ok?"

"Hey now... I can drink more than Tobin can." Morgan started to smile slightly again, feeling a little more at peace with the situation. There was no better teacher than Lauren Cheney for corner kicks. And there was no better friend than Lauren Cheney when you were upset. "You would really do that for me?"

Moe looked up at Tobin again, seeing the sadness in Tobin's own eyes and hugging her friend tightly again. They had both needed this phone call. 

Tobin wiped away a tear of her own, smiling both at her younger friend and at Cheney's words.

"You know I will. I will make sure you and Tobin can give great kicks before you leave NOLA. And if not then Kelley can take them which means playing time for our little squirrel friend." Cheney once again when with a dorky joke to try to make Morgan relax. Tobin too as she knew her best friend was hurting. 

"And I think it's time the New Kids added in one more, don't you think Toby?" Cheney chuckled. 

"She can be an honorary New Kid but don't call me Toby." Tobin pouted but fought back a smile.

Moe cracked a smile at Tobin's complaint, a famous one uttered many a time by the older girl ever since Morgan had met her. "Aww poor little Toby. Do I get a badge? I want a Honorary New Kid badge to rub in Kling's face."

But as Morgan laughed at her own joke, the weight of Cheney's words sunk in. "But if KO goes on the field and takes corner kicks... do I come off and sit on the bench?" Moe's face paled at the possible consequences of not getting her corner kicks up to standard.

"No with the team Jill put together." Tobin snorted. "Sorry." She added. 

"Toby's right. Jill needs you and Lindsey as the center mids behind Carli. That means you are needed. The whole midfield can fall apart with you you Moe Moe." Cheney wished she could reach out and draw her young friend into a tight hug. "You played when I was taking kicks, right?"

Moe nodded her head, the tears having taken over again making her unable to speak. 

She looked at Tobin, and felt guilty for taking up all of Cheney's attention when the older girl must have been missing Cheney even more than Moe missed her. "You should- You can-" Moe rolled her eyes as her throat choked up with tears. She gestured between Tobin and the phone, still securely in the older girl's hand; and made a move to get off the bed.

Tobin tugged Moe to keep her on the bed. "Thanks for the invite Chen. We'll talk after CONCACAF and figure out the dates." She said "Goodbye" and "I love you" to her friend before hanging the phone up. She laid down and opened her arms up to Moe. "Just come here, Morgan. Cry if you have to but no one should cry without being held."

Morgan let herself fall into Tobin's arms, still trying to hold the sobs in. "M'sorry."

Tobin rubbed Moe's back as she laid with her friend. A moment later it hit her. She was a vet now. She was the one that people came to when it hurt. She was no longer a rookie fighting for it all. "Huh." She muttered to herself. "Hey Moe? I'm not a rookie anymore. It's weird. Don't stop being a rookie." She advised her seriously. "Even if you have won a World Cup, fancy pants."

Moe laughed gently at Tobin's realization. "You're the grown up, now. Somehow." Morgan smiled cheekily through her tears. "But no one can replace Mama Cheney."

"No one." Tobin nodded, shaking her head just a little. "She's going to make a great mom. Look at how well she raised me."

Moe smiled wider, "Yeah you're a special kid alright." Morgan hugged the older midfielder tightly. "Thanks for helping me. I guess you're the new team mom?"

"Just for you. I don't claim the Massholes. They are all Carli." Tobin shook her head seriously.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N
> 
> co-wrote this with somebody I used to know.


End file.
